Efficient personal data protection requires dedication – What dangers lurk in everyday situations?

We are surrounded by a large number of devices which can be attacked every day, jeopardizing individual safety. Whether at home, an airport, a hotel or a park, various dangers are luring, and it is up to us to be aware of potential scenarios. Cities, city infrastructure, industry and companies are not spared either, as we often see in the news.

At the Next Conference, organized by Kaspersky and held in mid-October in Lisbon, plenty of useful advice was given about how we can protect ourselves, for example, when traveling. Perhaps some of us are still not aware how personal data leak and how they can be collected while, say, staying at a hotel.

Marco Preuss and Dan Demeter of GReAT (Global Research & Analysis Team) within Kaspersky cited several examples which can be useful to us all and that we may not have been aware of. When you enter a hotel room, you can check very easily whether the room has cameras taping you. Just switch on the camera on your smartphone and scan the room, as phone cameras can detect infrared cameras hidden in a corner.

If you want to make sure that no one’s listening to your phone conversations, open a water tap in the bathroom or play tour radio, which will help mask the conversation with noise.

Be careful about leaving cards or personal documents in a hotel room, if they’re not in a safe. You never know who enters the room when you’re not there, so use RFID protection on your cards.

There are also additions for USB sticks. When you plug your USB drive in a device you’re not sure is safe, the addition (also called a USB condom) protects you, not allowing the data to be stolen from it. Another advantage is that they are very cheap.

Loss of freedom and privacy – how to prevent it

The internet and new technologies have brought us freedom and access to information at all times, but, at the same time, by providing so much personal data, we’ve become targets. Sharing our habits, photographs and information, we’ve lost a part of our privacy and become transparent, Marco Preuss of Kaspersky says in his interview for eKapija.

– Plenty of private data are shared on social networks. People are not aware of the consequences and the impact this can have on their lives. To be more precise, they are either not aware or don’t care. We often see examples of people getting fired for sharing something inappropriate on social networks. Everything we upload there stays there. People have access to that and this can be used against you at any moment, even if you no longer have a social network profile. We shouldn’t take social networks lightly – Preuss warns.

He believes that the GDPR has had a considerable impact, making most people aware of which of these data remain online.

– But I still believe that these topics need to be integrated into the education system, because young people and teenagers still take this topic too lightly. We need to work on including the topic of online protection into the education system. The reason is that, once we’re familiar with the technologies and the means of protection, we are able to use those technologies in a way that helps us instead of doing us harm.

He emphasizes the importance of protecting devices in homes, as well as the Internet of Things, which Kaspersky especially insists on.

– Just as you wouldn’t let a stranger into your house just like that, you can’t afford not having control over the smart devices in your home, because you can’t know about everything that’s going on. What you say out loud in your home can easily reach someone without you even suspecting it. These trends are on the rise, and direct impact on human lives is growing with them – Preuss emphasizes.

The key is in having a good protection program, and Kaspersky is a globally recognized player in this field.

– Pay attention to your router as well, because most of them are old, vulnerable and not up to date. You need to make sure that they’ve been updated and that they’re protected – Preuss says.

Teodora Brnjos

Kaspersky

Dan Demeter

Marco Preuss

cyber security

cyber protection

internet

security

online security

Global Research and Analysis Team Kaspersky

Kaspersky Next 2019